day seventeen...

"Flight Dreams"
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography

Ok, I'm takin a day off! I have been working on all of this behind the scenes non-stop. In between work and daughter and husband and dog and dinner and the list goes on. Last night I was up way too late working on this photo stuff. I need to get a good nights sleep and come back fresh. I have so many ideas swimming in my head about all of this and I hope to have some new items in my shop very soon. Happy Tuesday evening all!

day sixteen...

"Cotton Candy"
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography

Memorial Day and it comes with very exciting news!!!! I have officially launched the next step of this project. It is an addition of an Etsy page to sell some select images. I plan to do much more with this like offering post cards etc. But I need to do some test printing of that sort of thing before offering those sorts of items. I have a few thoughts up my sleeve for multiple uses for these images and will probably gradually add to my offering based on successes and failures. I am very pleased and excited to share with you http://www.etsy.com/shop/LisaEPhotos Lisa E Photography (on Etsy)! Lots more to come and this will probably become a main focus of mine until I can begin to really offer sessions to clients as I build my portfolio. Thanks for reading and taking the time to check out my shop.


"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams" - Eleanor Roosevelt

day fifteen...

"Iris"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"Iris 2"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"Iris 3"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Still enjoying our long family weekend and the relatively good weather. Any time I have for the photo biz is being spent organizing and getting ready to launch this in full swing. Luckily all of our fun times are allowing for more photo opportunities. Time will tell where they factor in to this project, if at all, but practice is always great and I am so truly happy just snapping away at the world. Any success that comes from that is icing on the cake! Happy Memorial Day all!! Safe and happy celebrating.

"Daisy from my Daughter"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

day fourteen....

"Blushing Peonies"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"In full bloom"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

 Today was a family day, it is Memorial Day weekend after all. But alas the shutterbug will find photos anywhere so my camera was safely intact around my neck! We are still learning about our new home and decided to explore some nearby places for once.

Today we went to our neighborhood Farmers Market.

"Wild Honey"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

I am happy to say we are the proud owners of a jar of this wild, free range local honey. It's out of this world good and so fresh!

"Fresh Produce"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

I am so, so, so pleasantly surprised. THIS is the kind of stuff that made us choose to come to Portland, we had a few options. The general mind set on local, sustainable, fresh and community all come together in the farmers markets here in the metro area. Many neighborhoods east and west have their own version of a market.

"Yum"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Our local market is pretty large and filled with amazing products from all of the farms and local bakeries etc that are in very close proximity.

"Fresh Produce 2"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"Carrots"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

I am also pleased to add that there are no trite t-shirt vendors here! Here is a photographic recap of our day...

"Fresh Produce 3"
(unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Delicious! We cannot wait to go back next week.

"Vegetables are the food of the Earth; fruit seems more the food of the heavens." - Sepal Felicivant

day thirteen...

"Weights and Measures"
(unedited, from my archives)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Today I have decided to focus on the archive project I referred to yesterday. I have gotten through a lot more than I thought I would have but gosh what a daunting task. I plan to keep going with this and delay the launch and official opening of my shop and my portfolio building photo shoots until I am able to get through this backlog of work that needs reorganized for use in this project. Sometimes I am almost too organized and it can make things more difficult. This is one of those cases. All of my archive photos are saved in such a way that I have to go back through everything to find what is really appropriate for my professional portfolio, I do not want all of our family outings, photos, etc to be part of this offering so I have to resort things a bit. Have to weigh and measure what makes the cut and what might work with a little editing and what doesn't belong here at all. Time consuming but also a little nice to look back through a lot of great memories and pretty good photos.

day twelve...

"Rain Drops on Roses"
(unedited, from my archives)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Still trying to get through the real work week so I can focus more on this project. So, not much to share or report. I have decided to go back in my archives a little bit for a series project that I have in mind. I have had the privledge of living in several very different places in my life time thus far and I have a little project in mind around that. More to come as I get further along with that. Happy Thursday.

day eleven...

"Faith in Something"
(unedited, from my archives)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Today I have been looking at photography and new camera gear. This has been inspiring and helps remind me why I am doing this. I don't know too many people who would rather drool over a camera than a car, or jewelery, or clothes, etc. I on the other hand could look at camera gear and photography stuff all day long! It's hard to really be working on the biz side during my working days, they are just so long. But I did start a great photography business and portfolio building book that has been helpful, informative, and the images are inspiring and keep me going. I am getting a lot of great ideas from all the inspiration and cannot wiat to be able to do something with it all.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage."  ~Anaïs Nin, Diary, 1969

day ten...



"Sea Shells and Sand Dollars"
(unedited, from my archives)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.





So, I am currently on a quest to add to my camera tool box. There are so many choices, thus the photo of the day today. I am currently only really considering two brands (Canon and Nikon) but I am open to Olympus and Pentax if highly recommended. I currently shoot with an Olympus hybrid model that is a cross of a point and shoot and a dslr with lots of manual features that has allowed me to get away without buying a dslr for this long. I am looking at the Canon Rebel T3i and the Nikon D3000. Currently leaning toward the Rebel. I find it more intuitive and comfortable in hand personally. Any thoughts out there about these models? I am hoping to purchase in the near future but not right away unless I find a screaming deal, it's possible. Anyways. Today my thoughts are occupied by drooling over equipment and less about the business upstart stuff. Yep, boring post today.

day nine....

"Serenity" (unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

What a day, what a day. Somehow found time to get a really good start on the behind the scenes project related to this photography thing going. More on that soon, with any luck.  

"The first step toward getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." - unknown

day eight...

"Dandilion Wishes..." (unedited)
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Weird. I created this post but it didn't actually post and now the body is empty. :( Bummer. Well all this was really saying is that if I go a little underground and posts get whimpy in the next few days or so it is because I am working on a few things behind the scenes in an effort to get this thing up and running and alive. I have had a few more hits and lots more encouragment from my friends and family but still feel like this blog is not moving things in the direction that I want to go all by it's self. So, I have a few other things I hope to reveal very very soon.

"Little by little one walks far" - Peruvian Proverb

day seven...

"Autumn Reflecting..." BEFORE
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

I have lost a little steam the past few days. Weekends are going to be very hard. Not simply from a working on this project perspective but also from the viewership side as well. NO hits since Friday. Ouch. Feeling a little less than awesome about that. Still no followers and no comments and now no views. I know this is not going to be an overnight success but I had hoped that there would be a little interest as I am planning to launch yet another side to this very soon. I guess it doesn't change anything really I can still see benefit in the next steps and still want to see this through and give it a decent shot. It's just growing pains.

"The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." - Vince Lombardi

"Autumn Reflecting..." AFTER
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

day six...

"The Watcher"
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Well, as I guessed not many photo ops at the zoo. But not necessarily because my hands were too full, it was just simply too crowded. Not even enjoyable really, bummer. And now we are tired.

"Inquisitive..."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

 The little one is napping as I should be too...

"Tired Puppy..."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

For now though I need a mommy time out! No time to edit these, just a few I liked from our zoo visits.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing toattempt." - William Shakespeare

"Happy Hippo..."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

day five...

"Heavy with the Promise of Spring..."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

My posting on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday is pretty wimpy. It's probably kind of going to be that way - at least for the time being. That is when I go to my "real job". As if being a mom and a wife and trying to start a side photography business isn't a real job...But I did have 5 whole views yesterday! My readership practically doubled from the historical data in just one day. Hooray!!!! My little one has been begging to go to see the otters so tomorrow we are going to the zoo to see the otters. Maybe some good pics will come of our visit. But me at the zoo with my 2 year old by myself does not typically lend itself to great photos!! Super excited to have some time with her though, equally excited in the upcoming days to keep working on this photography thing. I ran a few ideas by some of the smartest, most creative ladies I know and I am super stoked by their reactions and additional suggestions. VERY excited to put a few more things into play....Hope to be able to reveal at least some of those things on this blog before Tuesday rolls around again.

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

day four...

"Sunshiny Day..."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Today the sun was shining on Portland. It's beautiful and warm and just lovely. I am getting around to my posting much later than usual. But as I write this the windows are open and the weather is just lovely. The warm weather and sunshine have me in a happy mood and looking forward to the legendary Oregon summer.

"From small beginnings come great things." - Proverb

random side note...

Thought of the day today. A great photo is a great photo. The editing is simply icing on the cake and can completely change the mood of that great photo depending on what you focus on. In this photography editing becomes an art form. My images have been a bit dark lately in the editing phase. I guess that reflects something about myself. I am thinking going forward I would like to post the actual shot and maybe two different photo editing interpretations. Maybe not all in one post, not sure yet. As I said this entire thing is a work in progress and I am sure many evolutions will take place as I keep working on this, with any luck at some point I might get it kind of right.

On that note here are the three original images that I have posted in their edited forms. These are raw images straight off my camera.

"Take to the Skies...." Original image
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"Into the Distance...." Original Image
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

"Thoughtful Gull...." Original Image
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

day three....

"Thoughtful Gull...."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Today I am feeling a little better. Seven whole hits! Even told a few people that this thing exists (besides my moms) Feeling a little punchy and a lot inspired to do more with this and be more open to the fact that pretty pictures are just pretty pictures but they can be all kinds of wonderful products that are also useful. Like Calendars for example. I've got a long way to go before that but I'm just sayin, I need to think in terms of the larger scale and not simply in terms of bookings and individual images. Today I am feeling like the possibilities are limitless and I just need to maintain an open mind.

"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

day two....

"Into the Distance...."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Feeling a little overwhelmed. So hard to know where to begin. I am fighting hard with myself not to just do a massive image heavy post to help generate some interest. Thus far only one hit. (and it was my mom!) I can already see that working on this project while the little one sleeps is going to make for a long process! But little by little I will get there. I have made it my goal to post once a day with one image. I am trying to figure out how to tie a theme or idea into the photo each day. I am also going to launch a Flicker page for my work and maybe an Etsy page to sell archive photos that I have taken over the last year or so. I am not digging back any further than that! One step at a time!

"if you've never stared off into the distance, then your life is a shame." - Counting Crows

day one...

"Take to the Skies...."
All rights reserved. Copyright 2011. Lisa E. Photography.

Today is day one of a brand new endeavor. My life is taking a new path and I intend to invest fully in the joys, successes, and failures of this new undertaking. I have always loved photography but it wasn't until my daughter arrived that I began to think it could be more than just a hobby for me. Since her arrival I have taken countless photos of her and our family excursions and have been told countless times, over and over again to do something with my photographs. So here is the beginning of that something. Small shakes for now that I hope will ripple and grow from here.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Confucius